About this blog

This blog is about old trucks and any other historical matters that I feel like writing about. John and I have four old trucks, a 1976 N1025 Volvo, which John purchased new, a 1974 1418 Mercedes Benz, a 1989 Volvo 12 Intercooler and a 1973 F86 Volvo which is also known as 'the Bubble'. John is a Cartage Contractor and has driven and owned trucks for over 50 years.

About Me

I am the Local History Librarian at at Public Library Service in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne. I am also the President of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society, the secretary of the South Eastern Historical Association and the Trafalgar Truck Restorers Club.

Monday, October 26, 2009

On Sunday October 11 2009 we went with other members of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club (H.C.V.C.) to view Merv Brunt’s collection of historic trucks in Colac. In this post, the third and final one looking at Merv Brunt's fantastic collection, we will see some more of the American trucks that were on show.

This is an unrestored Republic

The truck above is a 1915 Republic and the one below is from 1922.

I didn't know about Republic Trucks, until I saw Merv Brunt's trio of Republics. According to the Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles, Republic manufactured trucks in America from 1913 to 1929.They were the largest truck makers in the year 1918-1919, but they had some financial issues in the 1920s and they merged with the commercial vehicle side of the American-La France Company to form La France-Republic Corporation in 1929. American-La France manufactured fire engines successfully, however their commercial truck side was less successful, and the merger with Republic gave them access to the large Republic dealer network. However La France-Republic struggled to find a market share in spite of the introduction of the ‘supertruck’ 6 wheeled Mogul in 1931. This had 240hp, V12 engine, top speed 60 km per hour and a 20 ton payload. In 1932 La France-Republic was taken over by the Sterling Motor Truck Company of Milwaukee., who used the La France-Republic badge on some of the Sterling models until 1942.

A pair of 1915 Internationals, and because they were my favourite trucks in the Collection, there is a close up shot of International 1915, No.2, below

The truck, above, is a 1922 International and the one below is a 1938 International.

International Harvestor was started in 1902 and expanded into trucks in 1907. International was re-formed as Navistar International Transport Company in 1986, who still produce the International truck.

The photograph, above, shows an unrestored International and a FWD (the cab is wrapped in plastic for protection)

The FWD is yet another truck I had never heard of before. They were made by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Co. of Clintonville in Wisconsin. I discovered in The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles, that Otto Zachow and his brother-in-law William Besserdich, invented a double Y universal joint encased in a ball and socket joint which allowed power to be applied to the front driving wheels of a car and still be steered. The pair gave away patent rights to the invention in return for shares in the newly formed FWD company, whose initial output in 1912, included a 2 ton truck and seven cars. The First War World saw the Company grow and they produced 15,000 three ton trucks for the US Armed Forces. In 1937 they produced the first four door ‘crew cab’ trucks. Early on, FWDs were developed for specialized purposes such as snow ploughs, road maintenance, fire trucks and the oil fields, and they continued to make trucks for specialized use until the 1990s. William Besserdich left FWD around 1917 and became the first President of the Oshkosh Company.

The two 'Restorers Delights' above are an International on the back of a Dodge.

Dodge Brothers, John and Horace, built their first truck in 1916. The two brothers died in 1920 and the Company was sold to New York Banking firm, who teamed up with Graham Brothers of Evansville, Indiana. Graham Brothers had supplied cabs and bodies for Dodge trucks and their own truck range had used Dodge engines and drivelines. Dodge Brothers was taken over by Chrysler in 1928.

Two more 'Restorers Delights'. The top truck is a White and the truck straight above is badged a General Motors Truck.

Rollin White built his first steam car in 1901, under the Company name of the White Sewing Machine Company in Cleveland, Ohio. This Company was started by his father, Thomas Howard White in 1859. In 1906 the White Company was formed to build cars and trucks, and this was changed to White Motor Company in 1916. White continued to produce trucks until 1981 when it went into liquidation and was taken over by Volvo who used the White name was used on trucks until 1995. Rollin White left White in 1914 and founded the Cleveland Tractor Company (Cletrac).

The General Motors Truck Company (GMC) started in 1911 in Pontiac Michigan. The Company was a merger between the Reliance Motor Truck Company, which had began in 1906 as the Reliance Motor Car Company in Owosso, Michigan and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, which operated from 1904 until its takeover by General Motors in 1912.

On Sunday October 11 2009 we went with other members of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club (H.C.V.C.) to view Merv Brunt’s collection of historic trucks in Colac. In the last blog post we looked at the Albions, Beans, Thornycrofts, Leylands and his Morris Commercial. In this post we will look at the some of the American trucks - Brockways, a Federal, an Indiana, a Diamond T an AEC (which is a British truck). In the next post we will look at more of the American trucks.

A 1922 Brockway

A Brockway Junior 1927

1934 Brockway

1935 Brockway

George Brockway , of New York, built his first truck in 1912. The First World War saw the entire Brockway production go to the Military (from 1917, when the United States entered the War) and ten years later the Company was one of the largest truck makers in America, with an annual production of 5,500 trucks. In 1928 the Company took over the Indiana Truck Company. In the 1930s Brockway made 16 models from 1½ to 10 tons capacity. In World War Two the entire Brockway production went into the war effort. They developed a chassis for transporting rubber pontoons and bridge components and the chassis was later adapted to carry general loads ad for use as arcane carrier and airfield crash tender. In 1956 Brockway became an autonomous division of Mack, but the Brockway plant was closed in 1977.

Federal Scout from 1928

I had never heard of Federal trucks before I saw this one, but they were produced from 1910 to 1959 and around 160,000 trucks were sold in that time. The Company was started by Martin Pulcher as the Bailey Motor Truck Company in Detroit, Michigan, but almost immediately changed its name to the Federal Motor Truck Company. Federals were manufactured in Detroit until 1955 when Napco Industries purchased the Company and moved the operations to Minneapolis, Minnestota.

Indiana 1934

This was another truck I had never heard of before. The Indiana was produced from 1911-1939, firstly by the Harwood-Barley Manufacturing Company (from 1911-1919) and later by the Indiana Truck or Motors Corporation. From 1928 to 1932 the Company was owned by Brockway and from 1932 White. The Indiana can claim to be the first production truck offering a diesel engine in America. Clessie Cummins, of the Cummins Engine Company, had a demonstration engine fitted in an Indiana in 1931 and in 1932 the first Indiana Trucks were produced with a diesel 125 hp, 6 cylinder Cummins.

A Diamond T from 1948 and an AEC from the 1920s.

The Diamond T Company was formed by C.A Tilt in 1905. C.A Tilt initially built cars until 1911 when he produced his first truck. The Diamond T logo originated a trademark which had been used by Mr Tilt’s father, who was a shoe manufacturer. The diamond signified Quality and T stood for Tilt. In 1966 Diamond T joined with Reo, to become Diamond Reo. Reo took its name from the founder Ranson E. Olds and the Company made its first truck in 1908. Mr Olds also gave his name to the Oldsmobile Company.

AEC stands for Associated Equipment Company Limited, a Company started in 1912 originally to make buses for the London General Omnibus Company, a related Company. The First World War saw the manufacture of 1,300 buses, modified as transport carriers. AEC also supplied 10,000 Y model trucks, of three and four tons, to the Armed Forces. The Company continued to grow and introduced models ‘such as the Majestic, the Maommoth, Mercury and Monarch. They introduced the first production diesel engine in 1930 a six cylinder, 8.1 litres rated at 95hp. The Matador model was used extensively during World War Two as both a gun tractor and another fully armoured version was used as Mobile Battle Headquarters, equipped with appropriate bodywork and office furniture.After the War a new range of trucks were introduced and AEC took over Crossley Motors limited and the Maudsley Motor Company, then in 1961 they took over Thornycroft. In 1969 AEC was itself taken over by Leyland.

Sunday October 11 2009 we went with other members of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club (H.C.V.C.) to view Merv Brunt’s collection of historic trucks in Colac. It is a fabulous collection. In this and the next two Blog posts you will see photographs of most of the trucks in the collection. I don’t have many technical details on engines and that sort of stuff, but if you are interested each truck had an informative sign with restoration details and technical details. The collection is well worth viewing if you ever get the opportunity. In this post we will look at the Albions, Beans, a Morris Commercial, Thornycrofts and some Leylands. Because I am a Librarian (and like to spread information around) I have done a bit of research on the history of the truck Companies.

The Albion, above, is from 1924 and the one below is a 1927 Model.

Albion is the name given in ancient times to the British Isles. The Romans associated the name with albus, in reference to the white chalk cliffs of the south - east coast (or the White Cliffs of Dover, as Vera Lynn sang about). Albion Motors Limited was a Scottish Company. According to Commercial Vehicles in Great Britain, Mr Blackwood-Murray and Mr Fulton, Engineers employed in the very modern sounding Mo-Car syndicate, started the Company in 1899. The first Commercial vehicle was built in 1902, and, as with other truck companies, the First World War provided a growth in production - over 6,000 A10 models were produced for the Armed Forces in the First World War. Mr Blackwood-Murray was responsible for the design of all the Albion models until he died in 1929. In 1935 Albion took over the Scottish firm of Halley, a Company started by George Halley in 1901. Halley had started off producing steam trucks, but by 1907 had moved into petrol engine trucks. During the Second World War, Albion supplied three and ten ton trucks and around 1,000 tank transporters. After the War, Albion introduced model names such as the Chieftain and Clansman, which had previously been used by Halley. Later model names included Claymore and Caledonia. In 1951 Albion was taken over by Leyland and the Albion name was discontinued in 1972.

An unrestored Bean.

The Bean, above, is from 1925 and the one below is 1926.

The Bean history goes back to 1826 when A. Harper & Sons began producing drop forging, castings and stampings. In 1907 the Company became A. Harper, Sons & Bean Ltd and produced parts for the motor industry.In 1919 the Company combined with Perry Motor Company to produce the Bean car. In spite of a capital of six million pounds, initial output was low, well less than their objective of 50,000 vehicles per annum. Commercial vehicles were gradually introduced, and had replaced cars entirely by 1929. The early trucks had the 11.9hp engine used in the Perry car before World War One and this was in production to 1923. Other models were introduced such as the EmpireModelRange in 1930 and the New Era range, however sales were slow due to the Depression and the vehicle production ceased in 1931. Beans Industries Ltd continued in the general engineering field and was taken over by British Leyland in 1958.

This is a 1926 Morris Commercial with the 1926 Bean next to it, then a 1934 Indiana.

William Morris founded Morris Motors Limited in 1913 and in 1924 created Morris Commercial Cars Limited to design and manufacture commercial vehicles. He was knighted and later received the title, Lord Nuffield. Lord Nuffield set up the Nuffield Foundation in 1943 with a capital of 10 million pounds, the Foundation today is worth £220 million. The Foundation supports projects in the area of Education and Social Welfare. Morris combined with Austin in 1951, and created the British Motor Corporation and this was taken over by Leyland in 1970.

The Thornycroft, above is a 1916 model and the one below is 1925.

The Thornycroft Steam Wagon Company, established by J.I. Thornycroft,produced its first vehicle in 1898. There were several models including an articulated vehicle, the first one in Britain. In 1902 the Company moved into internal combustion engines and in 1905 the name of the Company changed to J.I Thornycroft Limited. The Company built trucks for use in World War One and introduced various models in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1933 the diesel engine was introduced and the Company changed its name to Transport Equipment (Thornycroft) Limited. Some of the model names included the Hathi (introduced in 1925), the Taurus (1933) the Trusty (l934), the Nubian (start of the Second World War), Antar (1950) and Big Ben in 1952. Big Ben was designed to carry payloads of 50 tons. Thornycroft was acquired by AEC in 1961, which was itself taken over by Leyland in 1969.

Shown above are two Leylands, I don't have their date of manufacture.

James Sumner produced a steam wagonin 1884, this was the first of his many inventions including a steam driven lawn mower and, later, a three wheeled motor car. J Sumner and Company was formed and George Spurrier later bought into the Company and in 1896 Spurrier and Sumner formed the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, in Leyland, Lancashire. In 1907 they changed the name of the Company to Leyland Motors Limited. Steam power dominated production in the early years, though an internal engine vehicle was produced in 1904. The last Steam powered vehicle was produced in 1926.Truck models in the 1930s included the Octopus, Beaver, Bison, Buffalo, Bull and Hippo. Leyland continued to grow and take over other truck Companies including Albion Motorsin 1951, Scammell Lorries in 1955, AEC in 1969. Leyland was nationalized in 1975 and then sold to DAF in 1987.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Last of the Chrome Bumpers Show at the Cora Lynn was a great success. It is getting bigger every year and this year over 6,500 people attended and nearly 2,000 cars turned up. They had to close the gate at one time as there was just no room left to display cars. The cars ranged from hot rods to models from the 1920s onwards and plenty of American cars from the 1950s. There was also a display of around 30 vintage caravans, some stationary engines and about 35 trucks, some of which are shown below. It was a pretty overcast day, not great for taking photographs. This was the fifth Annual Show and it is held on the first Sunday in October every year at the Recreation Reserve at Cora Lynn.We took the Volvo with our 38 foot 1976 Freighter trailer. The trailer has just been to Harris Automation Engineering in Dandenong and Victorian Truck Painting, also in Dandenong and it looks fantastic – now all it needs is a new wooden floor and we can then actually use it.

Two 1418 Mercedes Benz trucks. Ours is the red one and the other belongs to Eric Shingles. With these two trucks and the Volvo, the total European Truck Count was three.

Stephen Corstorphan's Diamond T. This truck was the second best looking truck on display, our Volvo being the best, naturally. If we were going to start collecting American trucks, then this is what I would get.

The J-model Bedford belongs to Norm Nettleton and the International CD1840 belongs to Wayne Henry.

This 1962 AB International belongs to John Denholm. The Atkinson is an early 1970s model with a 8V71 GM. There were three Classic Truck prizes and John and his Inter won one one of them. The other prizes were won by John Ferguson and his KB6, with his Ampol drums on the back and Max Devlin's 1928 Dodge, both pictured below.

Shown below are some of the other trucks and commercial vehicles on display at Cora Lynn.

An R.A.C.V Service truck

Two Chevs, the C60, below, is owned by Peter and Tracy Rochow.

This 1969 F250 Ford belongs Stan Hamilton. It was originally a Shire of Berwick vehicle. The Ford, below, is from 1931.

Because blue is my favourite colour, here are some blue trucks. Above is an Acco C1800, owned by Des Judd. In the photograph below the 1958 Nissan is owned by Ray and Lyn O'Halloran and the 1956 De Soto by Sam Capes.

This is a 1975 Dodge, owned by Bill O'Halloran and was originally a New South Wales Railways truck. The banner is advertising the Historic Commercial Vehicle Clubs (H.C.V.C) Display Day on Sunday, November 22 2009 at Sandown Race Course. Don't miss out on this Show, as there are hundreds of trucks on display.

There were about 3o vintage caravans displayed. The unit above is owned by Ian James and is a 1948 Morris Commercial, towing a 1950 home made caravan. The one below is slick, space age looking one.